Adkins relaxed about job speculation

20 September 2012 05:18

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Southampton manager Nigel Adkins insists he has no need to look over his shoulder despite reports suggesting his job could be in jeopardy.

Saints have lost their first four matches back in the Premier League, leading to talk that chairman Nicola Cortese is getting an itchy trigger finger. Former Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez and - rather surprisingly - former Southampton and Portsmouth boss Harry Redknapp have been mentioned as potential candidates to replace Adkins.

However Adkins, who helped the club to back-to-back promotions from League One, insists such talk does not affect him and believes he will be at St Mary's for the foreseeable future. "It doesn't affect me," he said. "I don't read the newspapers. I've got a great working relationship with the chairman here at Southampton and we share a common goal."

Adkins added: "We've had a great couple of seasons and there is stability here at Southampton so we don't even think about things like that.

"I have got my own desire to keep winning games of football because we have that winning mentality here at Southampton. There is a desire that we keep being strong and improving. I think if you're looking over your shoulder thinking 'Well, if I don't win this one' your mind is going to be affected in different ways so I don't even think about that.

"At some stage in the future, like in every job, there will be a parting of ways a long way down the line. All we are doing [right now] is concentrating on what we're doing. There is stability at Southampton, we're bringing the youth players through the system.

"We have just played Man United and Arsenal and they would have had difficult spells, but they kept stability and that is why they have been successful."

Adkins, whose side face Aston Villa this weekend, insists that the bond of trust with Cortese is so strong that he has not even spoken to him about the reports about his future.

"We don't need to talk about it," he said. "We have a really good dialogue, contrary to what many people believe.

"We have an excellent working relationship and we share the same common goal; we want Southampton Football Club to do well. We know there needs to be stability, we know there needs to be support. We drive each other on. There is nothing wrong with that."